Lochmaben & Caerlaverock 06 Nov 10

Iain was at my house for 8am and we were off down the M74. The first stop was Lochmaben.

Several large flocks of Pink Feet were overhead. The loch held reasonable numbers of common ducks including both Goldeneye and Tufted.

The woods are reputed to hold Willow Tit but despite searching we did not connect. A Nuthatch was heard calling and we had some Siskin and Treecreeper.

We headed for Caerlaverock and were there for about 11:30. A Green Winged Teal had been reported from the Campbell hide and we found it roosting with Teal:

We later saw it more clearly on open water and were able to confirm the vertical white stripe was present on both sides on the breast.

A winter plumaged Spotted Redshank was present from the same hide.

The Avenue Tower hide produced our first big flocks of Barnacle Geese and a female Merlin:

A single Ruff was also on the flood.

We did the Swan feed at 2pm but other than the spectacle it produced nothing of great interest.

We spent some time round at the Folly Pond late afternoon where a Black Tailed Godwit was of particular interest.

Drake Teal

Barnacle Geese